Will Solace Birthday Week (2019)
by minty-ships
Summary: A collection of prompt fills for the Will Solace Birthday challenge hosted by solangeloweek on tumblr!


Will groaned as he felt someone nudging his shoulders.

"Will?" Asked a voice, and he huffed, burrowing his face further into his arm.

"What?" He grumbled. The voice laughed.

"I really don't think you want to sleep like that," it snorted, and after a second, Will lifted his head up just enough to glare at Nico, who was standing next to him with a smirk.

"Why are you waking me up?" He asked, groggily, and Nico rolled his eyes.

"Because your sleeping at your desk, and it's ten." He poked the blonde. "You'll end up with a sore neck if you sleep like that."

"I don't care," mumbled Will, but he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He'd fallen asleep on the admin forms he was meant to be filling out; they were only half done.

"You missed the sing-a-long," Nico noted, pushing himself up so he was sitting on the desk. "It sucked without you."

"Sorry." Will shot him an apologetic smile. Sleeping through camp events – especially ones that where ran by _his _cabin – was a definite no-no. "I guess I was just really tired."

"Clearly," said Nico, nudging at the papers. "I'm not surprised, you've been working non-stop for, like, three days. Maybe you need to take a break."

"No, I don't. I'm fine." Will waved him off, picking up his pen. "I just need to finish these forms, and then I'll go to bed. It'll be fine."

"This is going to take you _at least_ an hour," note Nico, scowling at the desk. "Probably more. Shouldn't you take a break?"

"I don't need a break, I need- I need to get everything _done,_" huffed Will, pulling the nearest sheet towards him.

"Why?" Asked Nico, frowning. "Surely you can do them tomorrow-"

"I _can't_, because Chiron wants them _in_ for tomorrow morning," snapped Will, before wincing. Nico, luckily, didn't look too thrown off, he just raised an eyebrow. "Sorry. _Sorry_. I'm just stressed."

"I know." Nico started running his thumb across the other boy's hand. "That's what I'm trying to say. If you talk to Chiron, he won't mind you taking an extra day- you've never been late before, and you've been really busy. He'll understand that you just need extra time."

"I don't need another day. I shouldn't- I don't need any extra time to finish this." Will stuttered, before closing his eyes and letting out a breath of frustration.

"_Shouldn't?_" Repeated Nico, pointedly.

"Don't." Amended Will. "I _don't_."

"That's not what you said first." Nico narrowed his eyes at him. "Why _shouldn't_ you need extra time? You've been slammed recently."

Will sighed and opened his eyes again, turning to look at his boyfriend properly for the first time that night. He was wearing a black t-shirt for a band Will had never heard of, and was clearly waiting for a response. Will was a pretty open person, but that doesn't mean any of this was fun to talk about.

"I shouldn't because Lee and Michael didn't," he said finally, before rushing on. "And yeah, I know, save the whole spiel about not comparing myself- but the fact is, between dealing with the infirmary, and all the regular camp councillor stuff, I'm failing horribly."

"I wasn't going to give you a spiel," said Nico, softly. "I was going to say that I'd forgotten it was coming up to the anniversary of the Manhattan Battle."

Will didn't answer that, his stomach twisting, but his silence was clearly answer enough, because Nico stopped moving his thumb. For a few seconds, they stayed in silence, acknowledging it.

"I don't think you've failed horribly at anything," said Nico, finally, and Will looked down.

"I feel like, compared to them, I've failed at everything." He mumbled. "They fit their roles so well. I'm struggling to balance normal councillor duties with looking after the infirmary as it is, and I don't have a war to contend with."

"It's not really a comparable situation," Nico hummed, gently. "They didn't have the infirmary to keep an eye on, they had you acting as their _fantastic _on call medic."

"Right," said Will, although even the compliment didn't make much difference to his mood. "But they did have to strategize. And train the new campers in archery. And, y'know, fight a war- they did that _by themselves_. I couldn't do that."

"No," agreed Nico, after a second, and Will looked at him with surprise. He'd expected his boyfriend to keep going with the meaningless comfort, but then again, that had never been his style. Nico shrugged. "You're not an archer. You're a medic. You couldn't have trained new campers at archery, or actively fought in the war, because they aren't your powers." Nico shifted to look him dead in the eye. "You still saved so many lives. Pretty much everyone in both those battles could've died if it wasn't for you."

"Thanks," said Will, thrown off a bit, but he wasn't prepared to give himself the benefit of the doubt yet. "But you didn't see me, you were fighting hoards of monsters while I-"

"I did see you," interrupted Nico, quickly, and Will blinked in surprise. "I saw you a lot of times, throwing yourself straight into the battle field to help out the injured. You were the best combat medic I've seen."

"How many combat medics _have _you seen?"

"A few. Enough." Nico flipped his hand over so it was palm up, and started tracing shapes on it. It kind of tickled, although Will wouldn't admit that. "My point is, you did a lot in that battle. And you know that what's happening now- it's not about you failing."

"It's not?" Asked Will, raising an eyebrow, trying to keep his voice level against the contact.

"It's not," repeated Nico, firmly. "You're exhausted, and you're stressed, and we're coming up to a very grief-filled time for you. And with grief like that comes survivors guilt. You're comparing yourself to your siblings because you miss them, and you feel guilty for them dying. And you keep putting yourself down because, on some level, you wish you were the one who died, and you keep trying to justify it to yourself." Nico cocked an eyebrow. "Does any of that ring a bell?"

Will paused for a few seconds, stunned. Nico was usually the last person he expected astute commentary on the human psyche from, so it took a while to process it. "Uh- yeah. Yeah, I guess it does." He said, finally, then frowned when something occurred to him. "You- Bianca- do you-"

"Not any more," he said, casually. "I've made peace with it. Kind of. Most of the time. But in the start… yeah. I did. A lot."

Will felt a pang of sympathy for him – no wonder he'd cut himself off so much. "But now? How did you- I mean-"

"Death can't always be prevented," said Nico. "Sometimes, it shouldn't be prevented."

"Wise words." Will swallowed. Nico smiled.

"It's about the only thing my father ever taught me that's helped. But it's true- you don't know what would've happened differently if they hadn't died. You don't know how things would've progressed. And there's no point working yourself up over something that will never happen."

"I suppose," said Will, but he did feel a bit better- like hearing the advice lifted a weight off his shoulders. "But, short term… how would you recommend fixing it?"

"Take a _break_." Nico rolled his eyes. "The more you keep working yourself, the more tired you'll get, and the more you keep comparing yourself to the versions of Michael and Lee you have in your head. Do something that distracts you."

"I don't need to take a break," sighed Will, even though he was aware it completely went against what he'd just said. He started reading through the form anyway. "I just need to finish this."

"_Will_," said Nico, firmly, and he turned Will's head towards him and kissed him. Will found himself kissing back instinctively, dropping the pen, and Nico took the opportunity to slide off the desk and straddle him before pulling away. "Take a break." He said, firmly.

Will was pretty sure this was blackmail. Or some other form of completely immoral coercion.

"Okay," he said, a little breathlessly, and he looped his hands around Nico's waist.


End file.
